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PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT AN ISSUE?
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THAT BLOWS LINE TO LEAVE AN
ANONYMOUS MESSAGE AND LET
US KNOW WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND.

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In this image released by USA Network, Rami Malek, left, and Christian Slater
appear in a scene from the hacker drama "Mr. Robot."

5 reasons you should
watch USA's 'Mr. Robot'
shepherds the members of
On July 13, USA will debut
fsociety with a united mission
the second season of Mr.
of erasing all credit card debt
Robot — a dark, cyberpunk
thriller about corporate corand destroying the consumerruption, modern media and
debt industry.
finding identity in a world
Slater channels a sinister
of consumerism. The show
affability that is slightly remihas received multiple acconiscent of his early role in the
lades and even was picked
Kenneth Lee cult-movie Heathers. He’s a
up for a second season before
mentor who transitions back
the pilot was aired on television. The
and forth from fatherly and caring to
first season, which consists of only 10
aggressive and combative, creating a
episodes, is available for streaming on
very unhealthy relationship with his
Amazon Prime.
protégé, Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek).
We all know that your time is
He may not have an alliterative name,
valuable and should be devoted solely
but Slater’s portrayal of Mr. Robot
to Game of Thrones (and maybe your
is just as memorable as Mad Men’s
family), but here are five reasons you
Don Draper or Breaking Bad’s Walter
should give this show a chance.
White.

Christian Slater’s
Comeback
Christian Slater basked in 90s
stardom but never really reached
worldwide success; he has had a long
string of film-flops, short-lived sitcoms
and canceled television dramas.
Luckily, Slater finally found the right
role as the titular Mr. Robot, the charismatic leader of an insurgent hacker
group known as fsociety. Mr. Robot

The Hacker Hero
Slater’s Mr. Robot may be where the
show gets its namesake, but the main
character is Malek’s Elliot Alderson,
a cybersecurity engineer who moonlights as a hacker-vigilante after being
recruited by the hacker leader.
Unlike other onscreen iterations
of hacker characters, dropping wisecracks, awkward sexual innuendos
and pop-culture references isn’t Elliot’s

Last week — the week of
believe — fervently hope,
July 4–8 — was terrible. I'm
anyway — that this is hardly
still a bit in shock over its
the last of these kinds of
unexpected bloodiness, over
events to take place here in
waking up three days in a row
Statesboro. I'm incredibly
to stories of terrible and tragic
proud of how the weekend's
shootings and the inevitable
events unfolded. It was such a
screaming and finger-pointing
far cry from the nastiness that
that followed. I was relieved,
spreads so quickly online. And
this weekend, to go on
while I know that sometimes
vacation with a dear old friend Brittani Howell great change calls for much
of mine and stay far away from
more than peaceful protest,
social media, from the news, from
I've heard through casually eavesmore sad stories and hateful disdropping a few people whose minds
cussion.
I never thought would change talking
I didn't know there was going to be
about how this peaceful protest caught
their ear. I hope they — we — all cona protest until I had already left for the
tinue to listen.
weekend.
On Saturday, the NAACP and other
For full coverage of the July 9
"Silent No More" protest in downtown
local organizations rallied together for
Statesboro, see the Statesboro Herald
a downtown march, circling the courtstory on the home page of the Connect
house seven times like the siege of
website. We'll leave it up all week for
Jericho, holding signs declaring "Black
you to read.
Lives Matter" and — in a picture that
has circled widely through WTOC —
praying with officers at the Statesboro
Brittani Howell is the editor of
police department.
Connect Statesboro. If you'd like to
I hate that I was not here for this
reach out, shoot a message to editor@
incredibly important event. But I
connectstatesboro.com!w

710 Georgia Avenue • Statesboro, GA 30458

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Peter Egede, 20, a junior at Georgia Southern University from Marietta, leads chants
from the front of Saturday's "Silent No More" protest and march for social justice on
North Main Street near the Bulloch County Courthouse. Between 200-300 people
participated in the march.

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Southern Billiards &
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8 p.m., $10 entry fee

Q:What should I expect during my first appointment
A: You will participate in a face-to-face interview with a state
certified clinical evaluator. The evaluation will last approximately
one hour. You are expected to pay at the time of your service.
Have no fear. We gather information from you to determine if
you have needs to be addressed - substance abuse, mental health
issues, medical issues, financial, legal, social, etc. We, then, make
recommendations and referrals based on your self report. Clinical
evaluations are for those convicted of a DUI. Second offenders
must bring a 7 year motor vehicle report from DDS. All clinical
evaluation appointments occur after completion of the DUI Risk
Reduction Program. Contact Vern or anyone at Bulloch Recovery
Resources for an appointment. We have five evaluators on the
DBHDD approved registry. 912-489-8401

7

Wanna be the very best
(like no one ever was)?
Live your childhood Pokemaster dreams
with 'Pokemon Go'

Developer and publisher Niantic
at Pokemon Gyms found throughout
have created the next great thing, and
the world. Players can capture gyms
it’s the game you’ve probably heard a
for their team by battling members of
lot about by now: Pokemon
the opposing team occuGo.
pying the gym. Every victory
People all over the world
by the attacking team lowers
have been playing the freethe gym's prestige. After
to-play augmented reality
the prestige of the gym hits
game and posting all about
zero, the attacking player
Photos SPECIAL
their Pokemon adventures.
can take control of the gym
Creating an avatar is a player's first
The game allows players to
and choose a Pokemon to
step in Niantic's addicting new augcapture, train, battle and
defend it. Similarly, team
Tim Webb
mented reality "Pokemon Go."
eventually trade Pokemon that
members occupying a gym
activities players can take advantage of,
appear throughout the real world.
can upgrade the gym's prestige by batbut a little searching online will explain
Players first create an in-game
tling the gym leader.
all. Outside of the poor user interaction
avatar that will be disPokemon Go is a
REVIEW
from the company, the game itself is
played to determine the
genius game that has
perfect and highly addictive. The outplayers' current locations.
used a game’s world
of-the-box element of having gamers
to work flawlessly
Players move around the
actually walking around the real world
with our own world
real world to make the
to interact and play the game is truly
via
augmented
reality
avatar walk. Within the
'Pokemon Go'
refreshing.
and
mobile
devices.
players’ immediate surDeveloper: Niantic
Now excuse me as I take a walk
The
game
does
a
roundings are Pokestops
Publisher: Niantic
around the block and attempt to "catch
and Pokegyms, which
bad job of explaining
Platform: Android, iOS
them all."w
are placed at real-life
all the features and
memorials, restaurants,
parks, churches, tourist attractions
and more. Gamers can also encounter
Pokemon, players may view them in an
augmented reality view or with a prerendered background. The augmented
reality view showcases a Pokemon in
the real world by utilizing the mobile
device’s gyroscope and camera.
Players use a unique system to catch
Pokemon, relying on the gamer to
throw a Pokeball at the right time and
with the right amount of force to make
a successful capture. Players are then
rewarded with a new Pokemon, as well
as candies and stardust — the in-game
currencies that are used to raise a
Pokemon’s combat power (CP).
Players' in-game avatars also earn
experience points for actions like
catching a Pokemon. As gamers gather
experience, the in-game level of their
Wild Pokemon can be found anywhere — parks, libraries, restaurants or the bathavatar will rise. Once a player reaches
room in your workplace. Players must throw a Pokeball at the right time and with the
level five, they can join one of three
right amount of force to capture wild Pokemon for their own.
teams (red, blue or yellow) and battle

Why did NCAA wait
three years to act?
If you follow Georgia
Southern or live anywhere
near Statesboro, you are
probably aware that last
week the NCAA announced
infractions by Georgia
Southern’s football program
and the punishment to be
handed down as a result.
Alex
Without getting too
detailed, two separate violations
were found between 2013 and 2014,
both of which involved athletics staff
providing improper academic assistance to student-athletes. Georgia
Southern self-reported the 2013
incident to the NCAA when the professor discovered the academic dishonesty and came forward with the
information.
My understanding is that the
university employee was fired, the
student-athlete was removed from the
team and his scholarship was revoked
as soon as university administration
became aware of the situation.
The 2014 incident was a semesterlong pattern that involved a staff
member completing extra credit
assignments for two football players
without the student-athletes’
knowledge. Again, that person was
relieved of their duties once their
actions were discovered.
With all that said, I have a
question. Why is Georgia Southern
just now being punished in July 2016

for an incident it came
forward to the NCAA about
almost three years ago? I
seriously have to wonder
how many people who
were employed by Georgia
Southern athletics in 2013
are even still there now to
accept this punishment.
Brown
I’m not such a homer to
try to say there should be no punishment for such infractions. But
2013 was two coaching staffs ago. I’m
not saying Jeff Monken, Willie Fritz
or anyone on their staffs is at fault
— these were obviously both situations where employees acted on their
own to blatantly break the rules. But
Georgia Southern has a first-year
head coach in Tyson Summers who
is inheriting penalties for crimes
that occurred when he was defensive
coordinator at Central Florida.
I don’t have an answer for how
these situations should be handled.
The university has to be punished
somehow, without a doubt. Sure, the
athletics director and administration
can’t babysit every employee and
student-athlete 24 hours a day. And
ultimately, these rules were broken
by individuals employed by the university, most likely using university
resources.
But what in the world took so
long? I understand that governing
bodies like the NCAA just don’t

H

The Associated Press

Football misconduct gets
Georgia Southern 2 years'
probation
STATESBORO — Georgia Southern was
move quickly on things like this.
That’s just how it is. But three years?
Would it be too much to ask to
announce the violations and punishment within a year? I think that’s
plenty of time — especially when the
university not only cooperates with
the investigations, but self-reports
the violations to begin with.
As it stands, even though Georgia
Southern appeared to handle everything the right way once it learned
of the misconduct three years ago,
bringing this back up sheds a negative light on the university when,
as far as I know (and hope), the
program now is being run cleanly.
I can complain all I want, but all
we can do now is move forward.
Georgia Southern staff members and
student-athletes broke the rules and
the university is being punished. And
honestly, losing a couple of scholarships, vacating a few wins, losing
some official recruiting visits and
paying a fine isn’t exactly the program’s death penalty. The Eagles are
still eligible for postseason play and
it remains to be seen which games
will have to be vacated. Hopefully, the
2014 Sun Belt Championship is safe.
By the time September rolls
around and the Eagles take the field,
hopefully this is a distant memory in
the minds of most of Eagle Nation.
Speaking of, kickoff is less than
two months away. And I’m ready.w

put on two years' probation and the football
team will lose two scholarships next season
after the NCAA ruled three football players
received improper academic assistance. The
school escaped a postseason ban.
The football program will also face a
10 percent reduction in official visits and
football evaluations for 2016-17.
The school must vacate any victories
in which the players participated. But
Greg Sankey, chairman of the infractions
and commissioner of the Southeastern
Conference, said those games had yet to be
determined.
Sankey said the school self-imposed a
$5,000 fine. He added that no member of
the coaching staff was subject to penalties.
In the first violation, which occurred
in fall 2013, a former assistant compliance
director gave a flash drive to a player who
later enrolled in a course that allowed him
to submit an assignment as his own work.
"The former assistant director not only
violated the NCAA's ethical conduct rule
when she provided," Sankey said. "She also
failed to cooperate with the NCAA's investigation."
The second violation occurred in the
fall 2014. Sankey said a former assistant
director of student services drafted and
submitted 10 extra-credit assignments on
behalf of two football players.
"She obtained the student-athletes'
log-in and passwords and submitted those
assignments without the student-athletes'
knowledge," Sankey said.
Jeff Monken was Georgia Southern's
coach in 2013 and Willie Fritz in 2014.
Fritz left for Tulane after last season and
was replaced by Tyson Summers.
The NCAA notified Georgia Southern
of its investigation on Aug. 3, 2015.w

Q: I am constantly grinding my teeth. What can be done
for during the day to prevent ruining my teeth further?
A: There are many causes for grinding one’s teeth. It
can be a nervous habit or be caused by malocclusion
(teeth not meeting correctly). It can also be a side
effect of certain anti-depressants. If you are taking
anti-depressants, you might ask your physician if it’s
possible to change to one that doesn’t have clenching or
grinding as a side effect. It is also possible to have your
dentist make a certain type of splint which can be worn
during the day and is barely noticeable, which would
limit your clenching/grinding. Discuss this problem with
your dentist and see what solutions he recommends.

Log on to connectstatesboro.com to ask or view
more questions regarding this expert!

This year's festival will be the sixth — and final —
Summer Jam Those Cats has played

MR. ROBOT, from page 3
thing. If you’re expecting someone like
Arrow’s Felicity, you’re in for a surprise. Instead, Malek’s character suffers
from clinical depression, severe social
anxiety and paranoid delusions. It’s
an eerie, edgy portrayal of a character
archetype that’s often been depicted as
comic relief.
Elliot regularly takes morphine to
avoid being vulnerable to the pain and
mental anguish he suffers from his
overwhelming loneliness. It’s an interesting contrast of what he’s capable
of and who he actually is. Elliot is
connected to everyone: He can learn
everything about anyone, yet he’s isolated from the world and the people
around him. Malek’s captivating performance as Elliot anchors the series

Entertainment who took the reins of
Summer Jam last year, hinted that the
“friends” billed alongside the headliner are likely some of Those Cats’
past bandmates — but he and Durant
both declined to spoil the surprise
with too many details.
“It’ll be one for the books,” Durant
said. “Everyone should make an
attempt to be there.”
Complementing Those Cats’
sound is A Nickel Bag of Funk, a
funk-rock ensemble based out of
Savannah. The group has performed
alongside Those Cats several times,
and through past local performances,
Statesboro listeners are likely already
familiar with lead singer Leslie Adele,
who Bridwell describes as a “vocal
powerhouse.”
“If you see her sing the Fugees’
‘Killing Me Softly,’ your life will be
changed,” he said.
Filling out the set is up-and-coming
indie rock band BiRDPERSON,
who, having hit the Statesboro scene
only last year, will be performing at
with a magnetic protagonist you’ve
never seen before on TV.

Fourth Wall Breaks and
Other Mind-trips
The majority of the show is viewed
from Elliot’s perspective, and since he
is prone to delusions and blackouts,
he’s largely an unreliable narrator.
Elliot often breaks the fourth wall by
“talking” to the viewer, which he views
as a side-effect of his deteriorating
mental health. The company he aims
to take down, E Corp, is perceived in
his mind as Evil Corp, which causes
every character to say “Evil Corp”
instead of “E Corp” within the show.
He also blacks out at one point and
misses a significant event that affects

WHY?
Because it's your last chance to
see Those Cats play a show in
Statesboro for the foreseeable
future. Do you really want to miss
that? No.

Summer
Jam for the first time. Their poprock, almost punkish sound stands
in stark contrast to the funky feel of
Those Cats and Nickel Bag of Funk,
but the variety is far from a weakness
in a musical lineup, and Bridwell is
using the opportunity both to give
BiRDPERSON more local exposure
and to introduce Statesboro audiences
to the variety of music in Statesboro’s
scene. Aaron Cooler, lead singer for
BiRDPERSON, said the band is thrilled
to have the opportunity.

multiple characters, leaving both Elliot
and the viewer disoriented for a time.
There’s a fun guessing game of what’s
real and what’s not when watching
the show. The number of theories
this spawns is on par with Game of
Thrones.

Fight Club 2.0
Fight Club, the 1999 film starring
Edward Norton and Brad Pitt as disillusioned young men, has had a clear
influence on Mr. Robot. It’s basically a
television version of the film: Just like
Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden, Mr. Robot’s
goal is to have the consumer-debt
industry erased. Both have a clear
disdain for the rise of materialism
and the chase of shallow wants. Mr.
Robot just expands and molds these

“We've been fans as long
as we've been students here,
and when we first started
BiRDPERSON one of our major
goals was to play a show with
Those Cats,” he said. “It's really
cool to be able to do it one time
before they break up."
And fun fact: In past years, Cooler
played trombone with Those Cats for
a few gigs.
The eighth annual Summer Jam
will be held at South City Tavern
on Saturday, July 16, from 8 p.m. to
midnight. Tickets are $5 in advance
and slightly more at the door as
Statesboro music fans gather to send
Those Cats out in style.w

complaints to fit with the rise of new
media.

A Creepy American
Psycho Subplot
A character with a running subplot
that we routinely check up on is
Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallström), a
high-ranking employee of Evil Corp,
a largely amoral corporation prone
to shady dealings. Wellick’s character, with his cold, chameleon-like
personality, is highly reminiscent of
American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman.
Wellick, a character who spends his
leisure hours paying homeless people
to let him beat them up, provides
a number of spine-chilling scenes
throughout the show.w

Connect Statesboro 07.13.2016 www.connectstatesboro.com

For the past seven years, Summer
Jam has given local music-lovers a
reason to brave the heat and venture
out for a night of nonstop music from
around the region. The annual music
festival is back for an eighth year, but
this iteration has a special angle: A
farewell tribute to Those Cats, one
of Statesboro’s longest-running and
best-known bands, which is going on
what lead singer Cyril Durant calls an
“indefinite hiatus.”
The five-man funk and blues outfit
has performed in every Summer Jam
since their first appearance in 2011,
making this show a fitting end to
their Statesboro career before their
final two performances in Atlanta
and Savannah. Billed as Those Cats
& Friends, the headlining group is
pulling out all of the stops for their
final hometown performance.
Since the band was founded in
2010, Those Cats has gone through
several lineup changes and rotating
members. William Bridwell, the
founder and owner of Airbound

HOW MUCH?
Advance tickets are available
for $5 by contacting Airbound
Entertainment. Tickets will be sold
at the door on the night of the
event.

Connect Statesboro 07.13.2016 www.connectstatesboro.com

10
Brittani Howell

Boro bids farewell
to its coolest cats
After two full-length albums, five
Summer Jams and six years of writing,
performing and touring throughout
the Southeast, Those Cats — one of
Statesboro’s best-known bands — is
taking its final bow.
For the time being, at least.
“It’s not a ‘goodbye,’ but a ‘see you
later’,” said lead singer Cyril Durant,
who is calling the break an “indefinite
hiatus.”
Since beginning as a four-person
instrumental band in 2010, the funkand-blues ensemble has gone through
several major lineup changes with an
ever-evolving sound, having as many as
seven players at one time. Throughout
the years, though, the band has had a
backbone of three original, constant
members: guitarist Zac Tilson, bass
player Miles Wiggins and drummer
Scott Underwood. For some bands,
such major upheavals would signal the
beginning of the end, but that isn’t why
Those Cats is disbanding now; in fact,
Underwood said that in-and-out cast
of characters in Those Cats’ lineup has
been a definite strength.
“When I started it, that’s kind
of what I wanted it to turn into,”
Underwood said. “The name is a
very ambiguous, faceless thing. … It
becomes a whole slew of people — not
just a core group, but a lot of people
we still keep in contact with.”
The major upheavals facing Those
Cats now are not internal lineup
changes or in-band strife. Underwood
said that the band members current
changes are natural consequences of
getting older and transitioning away
from the college town in which Those
Cats began. Durant and Tilson recently
got married — one in October of last
year and one in November — and relocated to Savannah; and Underwood is
preparing to move to Athens, Georgia,
with the members of his other music
group, The Band Piano., which has
been garnering rapid recognition
around the state.
Between growing commitments,
hour-long commutes and the already

difficult challenge of organizing five
people’s schedules for practice time,
Those Cats was finding it almost
impossible to find time to rehearse,
let alone book consistent gigs. But
rather than let the band dwindle away,
Underwood said the band discussed
entering their hiatus with a controlled
descent.
“It fell into place,” Underwood said.
“Everybody was at that point to where
it made sense to put it on hold.”
The members of Those Cats packed
their final schedule with many of their
favorite haunts, including a last show
at Gnat’s Landing, their “second home
in Statesboro,” in addition to McLovins
in Savannah and Atlanta’s Soul Music
Fest, both of which are slotted for the
end of July. Their July 16 performance
at Summer Jam will be the sixth consecutive Summer Jam they have appeared
in — a particularly impressive accomplishment, given that the festival has
been running for eight years.
With their funky soulful sound,
Those Cats have long been carrying
the torch of the Statesboro blues, but
the band has been more than a constant presence in the local scene: It has
been an active participant in shaping
that scene, providing inspiration to
younger up-and-coming bands and
giving musicians a chance to tempo-

SPECIAL

Those Cats appear above in one of their first promotion pictures with their 2011
lineup. Below, the most recent Those Cats lineup appears in one of their last.
rarily share the stage. In 2011, Those
Cats participated in a concert event
called “Jam for Chambers,” raising
money for a favorite local bartender
who had suffered a sudden aneurysm;
and in 2013, they held a fundraising
concert to raise money for the
family of an Eagle, Nick Ward, who
was struck and killed by a car while
crossing the street.
“We like to give back to the people
who have given to us, and Statesboro
has been a staple for us,” Durant said.
“It’s where we got started, and anything
we could have done to help out, we
were more than willing to do.”
More than just giving them a start,
Those Cats’ Statesboro fans have
poured back into them, too; the band’s
first album, Something More Specific
(2014), was Kickstarter-funded largely
by Boro-based backers.
And through it all, Durant said, the

band members’ relationships transcended bandmate status into deeper,
genuine relationships. They have been
groomsmen in each other’s weddings
and supported their respective musical
projects.
“It’s more like we’re putting the band
to rest more than we are our relationships with each other,” Underwood said.
So while Those Cats are hanging
up their instruments for the time
being, there is still a chance that these
old friends and veterans of the stage
might pop up every now and then
for reunion appearances or surprise
shows. On the Facebook post listing
their final July shows, they have followed “the end” with a conspicuous
question mark.
“It’s not to say we won’t be playing
again,” Durant said, a little coyly. “It
just might not be as soon as people
would like.”w

11
Brittani Howell and Kenneth Lee

Rhythm and brews: Airbound Entertainment
introduces Eagle Creek Music Fest
entertainment market.
“(Eagle Creek Music Fest) is exactly like
what we’ve been working toward,” Bridwell
said. “When we did David Nail and Corey
Smith and John Langston, it was to re-engage
with a market of people that had not really
had those types of shows come through town
over the couple of years before that. These
are the style of events that I think could
thrive in Statesboro.”
The festival will begin
at 2 p.m. on Saturday,
July 23, starting with a
performance by the Tall
Paul Band on the outdoor
stage. Beer will be
available for sale at Eagle
Creek Brewing Co. and
can be carried outside
within the bounds of the
perimeter that will be set
in the brewery’s parking
lot. General admission
tickets, entry and beer
packages, and a VIP
package are all available
to purchase in advance
and on the day of the
show, but there are only
500 tickets available for the event. To purchase yours before the show, visit the Eagle
Creek Music Fest Facebook page for a link to
the Xorbia ticketing site. General admission
is $12 in advance and $17 at the door. For
further price breakdowns, see the Eagle
Creek Music Fest Facebook page under the
"About" section.
Bridwell said Eagle Creek Music Fest
would not be possible without local sponsors,
which include Pladd Dot, BrickHouse Live
Productions, DSDA Statesboro and new
business Smith & Wasden Clothing Co. —
and, of course, the brewery lending its name
to the festival. The event also stands as a
celebration of Eagle Creek Brewing Co.’s third
anniversary.
“When you hear the phrase ‘support local,’
Eagle Creek does it just as well as anybody, if
not better than everybody,” Bridwell said.
Music festivals in Statesboro have come
and gone — including A.U.R.A. Fest, Dixie
Jam and the Statesboro Music Festival, for
example — but Bridwell hopes that the Eagle
Creek Music Fest is the first installment of a
longstanding tradition in the making.w

WHO'S PLAYING
MAIN STAGE LINEUP:
BACKUP PLANET — Backup Planet is an experimental funk-rock band
based out of Nashville, Tennessee. Playing since 2012, the band’s set list
full of original songs — which encompass elements from multiple genres
such as funk, blues, jazz and many more — is sure to win over fans in
Statesboro.
THE BAND PIANO — This Statesboro-bred bluesy rock band should
be a Southerner’s favorite; with grungy guitar riffs and playfully wicked
lyrics, they’re guaranteed to entertain your ears off. If their 2015 release,
“Sick Bones,” is anything to go by, The Band Piano’s performance is sure
to be loud and wild.
ASHES OF OLD WAYS is joint music collaboration between singersongwriters Dave Britt and Bobby Sutton, both of whom hail from South
Carolina. Having decided to tour the Southeast during the summer,
they’ve already been picking up traction with their first single, “Living in
the Present Tense.”
SUMILAN — Sporting an ambient, electro rock sound is Sumilan, an
Athens based band with groovy, progressive tracks that’ll leave you tapping your foot and busting a move. Sumilan released a full length album,
En Transit, last March.
DIRTY UNCLE BOB — Another Statesboro-based band taking the
stage is Dirty Uncle Bob, a group of musicians influenced by artists like
the Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Drive-by
Truckers. They’ve given themselves the moniker of being the “dirtiest”
blues and rock band around.
TALL PAUL BAND — Adding to the list of Statesboro musicians playing
is Tall Paul Band. Tall Paul Band performs a set of songs that contain a
fluid blend of old-fashion folkies and modern tunes.
INDOOR STAGE LINEUP:
CHYANN ROSE is a 16 year old musician from Statesboro. Despite her
age, Rose has already been making a name for herself as a solid country singer. She was nominated by Georgia-Country.com as a finalist for
2015 Teen Artist of the Year. Rose’s set includes a lively mix of country
music, Southern rock and classics from the 50s, 60s and 70s.
JORDYN MALLORY is a country singer who is also taking a trip from
Tennessee to play in Statesboro. The tracks from her four-track EP alternate between Southern ballads to country-pop. Mallory also auditioned
for American Idol Season 11 and ended up reaching the top 98 of the
show.
COTY JAMES W/ GUITARIST BENJII TAYLOR — Coty James
is a Southern crooner. His original tracks, “That Old Truck” and “Till
Further Notice” celebrate the fun, playful spirit of country music. Jame’s
2014 track, “Cowboy Casanova” landed him a top 100 single on the
Musicrow chart.
BRENDAN ROBERTS — With his guitar in hand, Brendan Roberts is
always ready to delight and entertain audiences.
AUSTIN MEYER, DANIEL NAVARRO, SKYLER SMITH — This
trio of Statesboro musicians has bene playing music all across South
Georgia. They’re looking forward to stepping up onstage and sharing
their passion with everyone else.

Connect Statesboro 07.13.2016 www.connectstatesboro.com

In recent years, Summer Jam has been
the anchoring musical event during the lull
between semesters. In May 2015, Airbound
Entertainment added Summer Sessions to
the seasonal lineup. Now the music management and event booking agency is adding
what might be their biggest event yet: The
Eagle Creek Music Fest, an all-day, all-ages
outdoor event at Eagle Creek Brewing
Company, to be held July 23 from 2–10 p.m.
“It’s had better
engagement (on social
media) than any event
we’ve held in probably
the last year,” said
Willliam Bridwell,
the founder and
manager of Airbound
Entertainment. As
of July 7, he said,
“about 800 people are
engaged or interested
in going.”
Bridwell has been
planning an event of
this nature for about
six to eight months
ago, and joined forces
with Eagle Creek and
several local sponsors to make the music festival happen. Unlike Summer Jam, Summer
Sessions, Boropalooza and other standalone
music events, Bridwell wanted to make Eagle
Creek Music Fest an outdoor event to appeal
to a wider variety of music lovers — that is,
audience members who typically avoid the
more student-focused bars.
The city of Statesboro approved the festival’s outdoor event permit 72 days before the
date event organizers had set for the event.
Bridwell had to hustle to fill up the time slots
for the all-day music festival and finalized
the lineup early in July, but despite the time
crunch he was able to book 11 — that’s right,
11 — bands and artists for the event.
Airbound Entertainment has only been
operating since the spring of 2015, but it
has quickly carved itself an important niche
in the Boro’s music scene. Starting with a
spring concert series beginning in March
of last year, Bridwell has been working up
gradually to bigger events, booking concerts
with large country acts such as David Nail,
Corey Smith and John Langston to fill what
he sees as a significant gap in Statesboro’s

Connect Statesboro 07.13.2016 www.connectstatesboro.com

12
Kenley Alligood

Seeking wilderness
at Tallulah Gorge
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“All of those were gone by eight-thirty
this morning,” the smiling park ranger
told me, seeming faintly surprised at this
fact herself. The park opens at 8 a.m. and
it was only 10:30, but all of the passes to
hike the gorge floor had been given out.
Only 100 hikers are allowed down into
the gorge per day and, as hot as it was
outside, I didn’t expect them all to be
gone.
As soon as I stepped outside the
doors of the Information Center though,
I decided it was better them than me.
Even up in the North Georgia mountains, it was a hot day and, unlike the
Gorge Floor trail, the trails I would be
hiking were comfortably shaded by hardwoods and pines.
Tallulah Gorge is nearly 1,000 feet
deep and 2 miles long. It is bookended
by a dam at each end, allowing the park
to host Whitewater Weekends when
water is released, usually in April or
November. Though it is probably out of
range of a day trip from Statesboro at a
nearly four-hour drive, Tallulah Gorge
State Park is well worth the trip up. Your
outdoor adventure can be extended to
include a night at one of the park’s
50 campsites. If roughing it really isn’t
your style, you can find accommodations
in the nearby town of Tallulah Falls. The
park also boasts trails for every kind of
hiker, ranging from paved nature trails to
the more challenging Hurricane Falls or
Gorge Floor Trails.
A little ambitiously, I chose a route
that would take me along both rims
of the gorge, crossing the suspension
bridge of the Hurricane Falls Trail and
back along the top of the Tallulah Falls
Dam. The rim trails are pleasant, wellmaintained affairs with a scenic overlook
every 30 feet or so. Before long, I was
descending into the gorge itself, stopping
in the middle of the bridge to admire
Hurricane Falls from above.
On the other side, however, I realized
embarrassingly quickly that I am woefully out of shape and that I probably
should consider drinking those eight
glasses of water a day, or whatever it is
they tell you is healthy. Hurricane Falls
Trail is mostly stairs — over 1,000 of

KENLEY ALLIGOOD/special

A river surges far below an overlook in
Tallulah Gorge State Park.
them. After about 40, I was making a
very concerning wheezing noise and had
to take a breather, which I disguised by
saying, “Oh look, there’s a good view of
the waterfall!”
Stairs and my questionable fitness
aside, the experience was a very
enjoyable one. Strategically placed overlooks highlight the five major falls of
the gorge, and a cool breeze rose from
it at fairly consistent intervals, making
the Georgia summer bearable. I even
ran into two men who had seen the
peregrine falcons that nest on the cliffs. I
didn’t see the birds myself, but they were
kind enough to show me some pictures
they had taken earlier that morning.
“They’re late this year,” the older man
explained excitedly, “and we think they’re
actually still building the nest.” They told
me that this is the only recorded nest
in the state to exist in the wild, most of
the birds choosing instead the easier but
more dangerous ledges of Atlanta high
rises.
That’s kind of telling, I think. It
reflects us, in a way. Modern life is fastpaced and designed to make our lives
more and more convenient. To find
even a bit of wilderness, even tamed wilderness, we have to seek it out, go a little
bit out of our way. I’ve found, though,
that places like this are usually worth the
time it takes to find them.w

13

Being a good ally
Reckoning with privilege is uncomfortable — but necessary

This
could
be you

bhowell@connectstatesboro.com
I may feel like I know it as well as
my own, but I was not born into her
body. I do not fear public bathrooms,
or locker rooms. I do not field constant
commentary about my gender presentation, or my body, or my clothing. No
one calls me “sir,” not by accident and
not out of spite.
That is privilege. That is a safety
I have taken for granted. It’s hard to
admit to my own, innocent ignorance
of my loved one’s day-in-day-out. It’s
harder still to keep in mind that as I
grow, many more such belated epiphanies will come.
But that doesn’t mean that my time,
attention and indignation do no good,
or that my empathy has no place. It
just means I’ll try now to speed along
the excavation of my own awareness.
In the meantime, I will let my love
know that from here on out, I’ll be
here, standing sentinel, working harder
to see.w

Connect Statesboro 07.13.2016 www.connectstatesboro.com

Historically, when we
‘As a white person and as a cisgendered queer
have discussed the low-level
paranoia that thrums along
person who passes as straight in mainstream
our day-to-day existence
society, I am trying to pay more attention to
and the constant threat that
comes from being queer
what life is like for people whose identities are
in literally any community,
both visually apparent and societally
people have looked at my
partner and me like we have
Katherine
condemned.’
three heads between us, and
Fallon
Katherine Fallon, Connect columnist
none of them working.
It is understandably hard to comprehend that hate resides in places
for the sake of those I love. No matter
of our being together, I know how real
where we, ourselves, feel safe. We
how diverse a population, no matter
it is. Still, as I rarely encounter it on
all want to think that our towns are
how progressive a city likes to think
my own, I forget sometimes how much
better, that our neighbors are better
itself, certain people are always, inhershe contends with alone.
than what happened in Orlando. Better
ently at risk, just for being themselves.
I will blithely let her know that a
than what happened in Laramie. Better
That can be hard to hear, and it’s
doctor I visited was kind, or that a
than the burning of churches, or the
harder still to know where to go with
retail establishment was friendly, or
firebombing of mosques, or any of the
it, but if we truly want to better our
that a receptionist was, well, receptive,
many incidents that continue to fuel
environments, the more privileged
only to have her come home from
the Black Lives Matter movement.
among us need first to do some serious
those very same places to report dis Although I am queer as the day is
thinking about what we do and do not
crimination and hostility.
long, I am also not easily readable as
know. No matter how good our inten This has been true of everywhere
such, and I walk through the world
tions are, we cannot make change by
we have lived together, and has been
mostly without being noticed. A trip to
insisting that our lens is the only lens,
true for my previous partners, too,
Walmart might be hellacious because
or by denying that there are lenses at
who have also tended toward gender
Walmart just plain sucks, but I do not
all.
ambiguity, if not outright masculinity.
have to steel myself against the way the
There is a lot of debate about what
Throughout my queer adulthood,
public will treat me while picking out
constitutes being a “good ally” to
in the company of my girlfriends
bananas.
minority communities. I don’t pretend
or partners, I have experienced
My partner is pretty impressively
to have answers, but to me, at the very
harassment on the streets of multiple
androgynous, though, and as such,
least, it begins with listening and affircities, small and large, in red and blue
people stare. Occasionally, the stares
mation, with resisting the impulse to
states.
are admiring, and sometimes, they are
negate the lived experiences of others
We have been shamed and gawked
relatively innocent, if ignorant. But
simply because I am made uncomat with regularity, and have come to
most often, the attention she garners
fortable by them, or because I have not
expect as much. But some people have
— just for existing — is sinister and
experienced the same myself.
taken it further: We’ve had things
aggressive.
As a white person and as a cisgenthrown at the moving tires of our
More than once, we have walked
dered queer person who passes as
bicycles, been yelled at from open
through the door of a business and
straight in mainstream society, I am
windows, followed off of public transit,
walked right back out, based upon
trying to pay more attention to what
raced down interstates and incited to
immediate reception. I hardly touch
life is like for people whose identities
the brink of physical altercation in line
her outside of our house. If the car
are both visually apparent and sociat the store while running everyday
next to us sits higher than ours, we get
etally condemned.
errands. And truly, you would be
nervous about holding hands. We have
For instance, I am finally, belatedly
amazed by how many people ask queer
only kissed in public once, and then
coming to terms with something I
folk what it is we do together in bed.
entirely in shadow.
should have known a long time ago,
Sometimes, they even tell us, or show
Together, we approach social
before I even laid eyes on my partner:
us, like charades.
interactions tentatively, anticipating
I cannot possibly understand what
Because I am queer, no matter
something negative, and because we
she deals with on a daily — even
where I have lived, I have been afraid
experience this together and as a result
momentary — basis.
of other people, for my own sake and

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Eugenia Last
CANCER (June 21–
July 22) — Your drive and
determination will help
you bring about changes at
home. Look outside your usual routine
and expand your horizons. Someone
you encounter will enlighten you.
LEO (July 23–Aug. 22) —
You need to keep things in
perspective. If you let your
emotions dominate, you
will end up in a dispute that will hold
you back instead of helping you move
forward.
VIRGO (Aug. 23–
Sept. 22) — You'll receive
information that will
influence a decision you
make or change your plans. Don't limit
what you can do. Take action and offer
hands-on help.
LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 23)
— Problems with people
you work or deal with
regularly will arise. If you
use charm, deploy compliments and
are willing to compromise, you will get
your way.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24–
Nov. 22) — Take care of
business quickly so that
you can do something
more enjoyable or educational. Taking
part in a conference or course will be
enlightening as well as fruitful.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23–
Dec. 21) — Fight for your
rights, but don't exceed
boundaries, rules or regulations. Do your due diligence and find
out all the facts before you proceed.
Physical improvements will boost your
confidence.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22–
Jan. 19) — A good deal will
make your day. Search for
the perfect gift for a loved
one. A change in the way you approach
someone will make a difference. Listen
and learn.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–
Feb. 19) — Don't venture
too far from home. A job
worth doing is a job worth
doing right the first time. A romantic
gesture will improve a personal relationship.
PISCES (Feb. 20–
March 20) — An opportunity will present itself
if you are sincere and
express your intentions. Negotiations,
contracts and unexpected offers
and financial gains look promising.
Improve your domestic environment.
ARIES (March 21–
April 19) — Make a deal.
Revisit an old idea or
investment in order to find
a way to get ahead. Discipline and personal change will mark a new beginning.
Discuss your plans for the future.
TAURUS (April 20–
May 20) — You'll be sensitive to comments made
by friends and family.
Consider what's been said and who
said it before you respond. In time, the
advice offered will make sense and will
help you move forward.
GEMINI (May 21–June 20)
— Some devoted personal
time will help you update
your appearance and give
you a chance to think about the people
you choose to surround yourself with.w

Holli Deal Saxon
FACEBOOK POLICE? — Don’t
call the cops over social media
posts. A Bulloch County Sheriff ’s
deputy told a Swallowtail Drive
couple he wasn’t the Facebook
police after the woman demanded
he order her husband to delete
posts. It seems the man discovered
she was unfaithful, so he shared on
Facebook conversations she had
with other men. She didn’t like it.
The deputy told her to take it up
with the social media entity, that
her husband had not broken any
laws.

NOODLE ABUSE — A Cowboy
Way man whose family are regular
callers to law enforcement sent for
sheriff ’s deputies because his adult
son threw a pot of spaghetti on the
ground after an argument over a
driver’s license. The son and his
mother claimed the son accidentally
dropped the spaghetti.
NOISY AND DRUNK — A Little
Lotts Creek Apartments man was
arrested for public intoxication after
his girlfriend called police to report
he was “loud and boisterous.”w